A screenshot from a 2006 video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television shows al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
AFP/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
AFP/AFP via Getty Images
A screenshot from a 2006 video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television shows al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
AFP/AFP via Getty Images
Senior al-Qaeda leader and key 9/11 plotter Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a US-led drone strike on July 30, according to President Joe Biden.
“For decades he was the mastermind of attacks on Americans,” Biden said Aug. 1, also noting the 2000 attack on the USS Cole and the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya. and in Tanzania.
Biden has detailed al-Zawahiri’s role leading al-Qaeda since Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces in 2011, including calling on his supporters in recent weeks to attack the United States and its nations. allies in videos.
“We make it clear tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you are hiding, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and bring you out,” Biden said.
Biden said no one else was injured in the strike, including al-Zawahiri’s family, who were elsewhere in a safehouse, and there were no civilian casualties.
An administration official who briefed reporters ahead of Biden’s remarks said al-Zawahiri was an active threat to U.S. national security and his death is an ‘extremely significant blow’ to al-Qaeda .
“And to those around the world who continue to seek to harm the United States, hear me out now: We will always remain vigilant and we will always act and do what is necessary to keep Americans safe and secure at home and in the surrounding area. the world,” Biden said.
The United States is aware of a network that has protected al-Zawahiri for several years, the senior administration official said.
Biden was briefed on the proposed operation and he called a July 25 meeting with key cabinet members and senior officials for a final intelligence assessment briefing, the official said. There was unanimous support for hitting the target and Biden authorized a “tailored” airstrike to minimize civilian casualties.
Osama bin Laden (left) seated with Ayman al-Zawahiri during a 2001 interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Getty Images
Osama bin Laden (left) seated with Ayman al-Zawahiri during a 2001 interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
Getty Images
Zawahiri, an Egyptian ophthalmologist, had been bin Laden’s deputy before he took over al-Qaeda in 2011. But al-Qaeda members had complained that he was relatively uninspiring. The two men had fought together in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Zawahiri helped found Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Al-Qaeda was never able to regain its status as a preeminent terrorist organization after bin Laden’s death, and has faces new, more brutal rivals, such as the Islamic State.